Before getting to today’s outrages — I always hate to have to pass the hat, but I’ve realized my income this month isn’t going to stretch to the next Social Security deposit, assuming it gets deposited. I’m doing a very small fundraiser. Here’s the GoFundMe link. Or, you can always use the donate link over on the right-hand column, if you’re on the home page. Thanks much for all help.

The fallout from yesterday’s CR vote may just be getting started. Lots of people are furious at Chuck Schumer. It’s been widely reported that even Nancy Pelosi expressed outrage at Schumer. However, I’m not sure the statement she made came out before or after the actual vote. In any event, she wanted the Senate to nix the CR and try to negotiate something less toxic. Josh Marshall called the vote a missed opportunity for Dems to make it clear to the public that We Are Not Okay With What Trump Is Doing.

I don’t think most of the long-entrenched Dems in Washington really, truly get how the single biggest thing holding them back for many elections is that too many voters don’t see how they are different from Republicans. And, in truth, some of them haven’t been all that different; the infamous “centrists,” for example. The ones who come out after every lost election to blame the progressives. Makes me crazy. But if something good does manage to sneak out of this terrible mess we’re stuck in now, maybe it’s that the Dems will finally realize it’s not 1992 any more, and the “New Democrat,” “No Labels,” “let’s reach across the aisle” crap is what’s been failing them, not promoting a Green New Deal.

So, for the record, here are the Dems who caved and voted for the CR:

• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
• Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania
• Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada
• Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii
• Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois
• Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York
• Senator Gary Peters of Michigan
• Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire
• Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire
• Senator Angus King of Maine, an independent who frequently caucuses with Democrats

Former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, who isn’t exactly a radical firebrand, wrote in his substack column Surrender has a terrible price — Chuck Schumer just purchased it for America. Ouch.

I also want to say that John Fetterman has been a huge disappointment, He seems to want to be the new Kyrsten Sinema. I hope at least that he never shows up for a State of the Union address disguised as a canary. Note also that Chuck isn’t up for re-election until 2028, and Gillibrand not until 2030. I don’t know about the rest of them.

Moving on — it strikes me that Trump is now at war with just about everything on the planet except the actual enemies of the U.S. He’s at war with higher education. He’s at war with science, especially climate science. He can’t seem to relate to any of our long-term allies without making it a confrontation, such as his getting nasty with the Prime Minister of Ireland this past week. And he’s still talking about taking over Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. And why are we not demanding a psychological and cognitive evaluation of this guy? He’s either massively stupid or not entirely there.

And it’s all about his personal grievances. He has no interest whatsoever in policy or government. He just wants to get back at everything he doesn’t think reveres him enough. Or something. Yesterday’s Justice Department speech was, IMO, nothing but a scream from Trump’s dark and twisted id. Pretty much everything Trump is doing is probably about gratifying his ego and emotions and getting back at all the people he thinks haven’t been fair to him. Which seems to be most of the human species.

And much of this is just irrational. Today Voice of America employees showed up for work and found themselves locked out.

Journalists showed up at the Voice of America today to broadcast their programs only to be told they had been locked out: Federal officials had embarked on indefinite mass suspensions.

All full-time staffers at the Voice of America and the Office for Cuba Broadcasting, which runs Radio and Television Martí, were affected — more than 1,000 employees. The move followed a late Friday night edict from President Trump that its parent agency, called the U.S. Agency for Global Media, must eliminate all activities that are not required by law.

In addition, under the leadership of Trump appointees, the agency has severed all contracts for the privately incorporated international broadcasters it funds, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

What the bleep? Was this Vladimir Putin’s idea? All of these things are part of a bigger thing called the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which currently is headed by Trump ally and professional Fruit Loop Kari Lake. Surely Lake could have directed it all toward pushing pro-Trump news all the time. Why is he shutting these things down?

Along with gutting the global media agency, yesterday Trump signed executive orders gutting agencies dealing with libraries, museums, and ending homelessness.

Today Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed up deportations. Apparently he hasn’t been able to deport people any faster than previous presidents, which enrages him. From the Brennan Center for Justice:

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a wartime authority that allows the president to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy nation. The law permits the president to target these immigrants without a hearing and based only on their country of birth or citizenship. Although the law was enacted to prevent foreign espionage and sabotage in wartime, it can be — and has been — wielded against immigrants who have done nothing wrong, have evinced no signs of disloyalty, and are lawfully present in the United States. It is an overbroad authority that may violate constitutional rights in wartime and is subject to abuse in peacetime. …

… The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked three times, each time during a major conflict: the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. In World Wars I and II, the law was a key authority behind detentions, expulsions, and restrictions targeting German, Austro-Hungarian, Japanese, and Italian immigrants based solely on their ancestry. The law is best known for its role in Japanese internment, a shameful part of U.S. history for which Congress, presidents, and the courts have apologized.

… So it’s only ever been used during a declared war, which we don’t currently have. A president “may invoke the Alien Enemies Act in times of ‘declared war’ or when a foreign government threatens or undertakes an ‘invasion’ or ‘predatory incursion’ against U.S. territory,” the Brennan Center says. So Trump is imagining that other countries are emptying out their jails and insane asylums and sending people here, not that people are coming here of their own accord. Today Trump claimed the U.S. is being invaded by a particular Venezuelan gang, and he had all of five Venezuelans all ready to deport. But a judge has blocked the deportations pending a hearing.

Too bad there are so few insane asylums left. Trump needs to be in one.